Predator: Badlands Review

 

Ya know, never in my lifetime did I ever think we'd get two Predator films in the same year. But here we are.

Predator: Badlands is a sci-fi action movie and the seventh film in the installment although if you count the Alien vs. Predator flicks it'd be the ninth. Lawrence Gordon Productions, Davis Entertainment, and Toberoff Entertainment did production while 20th Century Studios did distribution. Dan Trachtenberg once again returns to the franchise to direct, and also wrote the screenplay with Brian Duffield and Patrick Aison.

The story is, young Yautja Dek is considered a weakling to his clan by his father. After he watches a bloody fight between his father and brother, Dek sets out to hunt a supposedly unkillable apex predator on the dangerous planet Genna and prove he's not weak. But as Dek searches for this beast, he also learns there's something else on this planet and it wants both his trophy kill and him.

Initial Reaction

I wanted to see this movie for the most simple of reasons. I'm a fan. I think the Predator films are great. Well the first ones great, the second is good, the others are okay, but the less we talk about Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem the better. The point I'm getting at is, I'm a fan and I wanted to see the newest installment of the franchise.

Cons

The only truly bad thing in this movie were the villains. They only thing you can say about them is bland. They were so generic. There's no way anybody is gonna remember these characters.

Middle Ground

My only mix feelings came from the tone. While the first movie had it's lighter moments it was still a very serious flick. So I didn't mind some comedy, but some of it really needed to be toned down. Especially with the character of Thia. Sometimes her more chipper personality felt kind of annoying.

Pros

One positive I'll give is the action. We start off with a pretty coll sword in a cave, get some good survival scenes, and a pretty entertaining third act. Granted it's not as violent as the previous films, but it was still entertaining. Then there's the world building. We get see more of the Yautja culture both from what we see and what Dek tells us. But more importantly we get to explore another planet other than Earth. Genna on the surface looks beautiful, but as we dive deeper into it it's gonna one fictional planet I wouldn't want to visit. The last thing I'll give touch on is Dek's story. While it is a fairly standard coming-of-age story, I still found myself interested in how he was gonna go from the "weakling" to something stronger.

While I don't find Predator: Badlands to be a very strong film for this franchise, I still did enjoy some aspects. Hopefully the next one will be much better.

My final rating is, Okay.

So it goes without saying but that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Nov 10th, for my review of the newest Frankenstein. Which I am totally dreading to see, because as we all know Guillermo del Toro is just the worst filmmaker ever! He's just terrible. Joking aside, hopefully you'll be there and you enjoy the rest of your day.